Tuesday, 23 December 2008

43 years after its Turin Show debut the one-and-only 1965 Turin Salon Lamborghini Miura chassis, designed by chassis genius Gian Paolo Dallara, and the raging bull company's first-ever transverse mid-mounted V12 engine (0293) has been acquired by Los Angeles based collectors.

The iconic show chassis had been stored for the past 30 years in Cyprus by that country's original Lamborghini concessionaire, Marios Kritikos. While visiting the Lamborghini factory in 1977, Mr. Kritikos took a fancy to the historic show unit. After successfully negotiating a future home for it, he arrived at the factory with his Range Rover and trailer, loaded it and drove away. That was in April of 1978. The original invoice for the chassis survives, together with unpublished period photographs of the chassis being built in 1965, on display at the December, 1965 Turin Salon, and at the Lamborghini factory in July, 1966. Mr. Kritikos documented his collection of the car on April 7th, 1978.

The 1965 Turin Salon Miura represents the very first mid-engined supercar theme for all marques, and is rightly considered to be the Holy Grail from which all road going supercars descend. Its re-emergence represents the most important Lamborghini discovery to date.

Thirty years later, in December of 2008 representing both parties and facilitating the transaction were Miura specialists Joe Sackey (Joe Sackey Classics: www.joesackey.com) and Gary Bobileff (Bobileff Motorcar Company: www.bobileff.com). Only one month after its discovery it has been imported to the US and now resides in the restoration facility of world-renowned Gary Bobileff, where it will undergo a complete refurbishment to bring it to its former show glory.

The last time the general public saw this automotive icon was 43 years ago on display at the Turin Salon.

It will make its USA debut in the summer of 2009. Details to be announced.

New!Lamborghini Miura Bible by Joe Sackey.The ONLY book on the Lamborghini Miura to be published in the past twenty six years – and enthusiasts agree it is long overdue. Written by a world-renowned authority on the subject, featuring, among other things, a never-before-published factory chassis production register, technical illustrations, studio-supplied images and exclusive interviews with the designers of the car: this is essential reading for any Lamborghini fan.Click here for more info about the brand new book.

Friday, 19 December 2008

This book provides an easy to follow guide on how to draw cars like the professional design studios. Covers materials used from pencils to markers, airbrushes to computer generated drawings. The book features clear and concise step-by-step guides to drawing all external components of a car, and teaches how to render them in order to bring them to life. It also showcases work that demonstrates how these techniques produce great car art and design. Click here for more info about the forthcoming book.

Thursday, 18 December 2008

Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (FHI), the maker of Subaru automobiles, has announced the withdrawal from the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) at the end of the 2008 season.

FHI has participated in the WRC together with Prodrive, a motorsports and automotive engineering group in the UK, over the past 19 years to pursue its goal and philosophy in motor sports activities to enhance Subaru brand awareness by showing that Subaru vehicles offer safe, comfortable and pleasurable driving no matter the weather or road conditions, featuring Horizontally-Opposed engine and the Symmetrical All-Wheel drive system as its core technologies, and to transfer results of race-tested technical improvements into Subaru passenger vehicles.

Subaru has won three manufacturer’s championship titles and three driver’s championship titles in its history of rally racing. This has helped enhance the value of the Subaru brand as well as the sales expansion of Subaru vehicles all over the world.

FHI considers it has achieved its original target in WRC participation. However, while considering positioning the WRC activity in Subaru branding strategy towards the future, our business environment has been dramatically changed due to the quick deterioration of the global economy. In order to optimize the management resources and to strengthen further the Subaru brand, FHI decided to withdraw from WRC activities at the earliest timing.

As regards future involvement in rally activities, FHI will continue to support teams and drivers that participate in P-WRC or the Group N category.source: newspress

Friday, 12 December 2008

New widget download is available to coincide with the launch of the all new Veloce Publishing forum. This widget will enable an at-a-glance way of keeping up with what is being discussed on the forum as each new post will automatically be displayed on the widget.(Requires Mac OSX 10.4 or later)

Thursday, 11 December 2008

The Earl of March has confirmed the theme of the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed as ‘True Grit – Epic Feats of Endurance.’ The theme celebrates the drive and determination of motor racing’s heroes, who overcame huge physical, mental and mechanical barriers in their quest for glory. From Jackie Stewart’s enduring victory at the 1968 German Grand Prix, despite his broken wrist, to Mick Doohan’s courageous return to motorcycle racing in 1992, without full use of his right leg, there are countless amazing tales of performances far beyond what was thought possible for any human being. When most would have accepted defeat, these few continued to pursue their goals against all odds. The 2009 Festival of Speed will celebrate their unrelenting true grit and the legends born from it. The 2009 Festival will run from 3-5 July and will celebrate the true motor sport heroes that went the extra mile in the pursuit of victory. Motor racing legends and modern day stars are expected to line up alongside their friends and adversaries at the celebrated 1.16 mile hillclimb, in a tribute to great feats of endurance in competition. Visit the Goodwood website for more info

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

New!Gentleman Jack – The Official Biography of Jack Sears by Graham Gauld.
Gentleman, entrepreneur, and excellent racing driver, this is the fascinating story of John (Jack) Sears or Gentleman Jack as he was popularly known. As sir John states in the foreword “Jack was the gentleman that I should have been. He had the grace, while I only had the title. I often told him that he should have had it rather than I, but he wasn’t buying. Although he started racing several years before I did, our careers took a parallel path for much of the way, and this gave me the privilege of getting to know him really well. That he was an outstanding driver is obvious, and you will have had this reaffirmed by the time you have read this book” This incredibly detailed biography not only tells of Jack’s amazing motoring career from his perspective but of the whole Sears dynasty. The businesses, the friends, the highs and the lows. Packed with facts straight from the man himself and illustrated with over 150 unique photos this is a must have piece of motoring history.
click here for more info about the book

As production of the European specification Nissan GT-R begins in its Tochigi plant in Japan this month, a raft of small but significant changes have been made to the car.

The GT-R’s hand-built 3.8-litre V6 twin-turbo engine has gained 5PS thanks to some fine tuning of its electronics, taking power output to 485PS, while torque remains unchanged at 588Nm. Additionally, Dunlop SP Sport 600 DSST tyres will be fitted as standard. The tyre was developed specifically for the GT-R and it combines grip and durability, as demonstrated during its ‘time-attack’ lap of the Nurburgring, which yielded a time of 7 minutes 29 seconds. And, just to improve the ride performance even further a modification has been carried out to the suspension spring rate settings.

Another update sees the introduction of the Gun Metal grey coloured Rays seven-spoke alloy wheel design for the standard and Premium Edition GT-Rs, while the Black Edition will be fitted with the same design but, appropriately, in black. Additionally, customers can now choose a new pearl white called ‘Storm’ as an exterior colour – an eye-catching, deep white replacing the original pearl white which had a slightly darker shade.

To date, Nissan has taken in excess of 2500 customer orders in Europe with 1200 coming from the UK. Any new customer orders should expect delivery in mid 2010.Veloce has two exciting Nissan GT-R books lined up for release in 2009...

The Nissan GT-R High-performance Manual By Alex Gorodji. There is not a car in the world that is equal to the Nissan GT-R in its popularity and unique handling characteristics. However, the Nissan GT-R was and still is a half-ready product. Therefore modification of this car is crucial for realisation of its enormous potential.This book explains the distinctive features of the GT-R and how they determine the car’s dynamics. It contains an original and critical analysis of the GT-R models, and reveals positive and negative features of different systems of these cars. Modifications of all systems of the GT-R by the top British and Japanese tuners are covered in the book.click here for more info about the book.

Nissan GT-R Supercar: Born to race By Dennis Gorodji. This book contains rare pictures, schemas and graphs detailing the many unique qualities of the Nissan GT-R, a car that revolutionised modern sports car dynamics. Analysis of the motorsport history of the GT-R provides an original view of development of the models, and comparison of them with other sports and racing cars. It features an original and critical analysis of the new GT-R R35, and the R35 Spec V, which will be launched in the beginning of 2009, is also represented in the book. With over 400 colour photographs, this is essential reading for sports car fans.click here for more info about this book.

Monday, 8 December 2008

Off Road Giants! - Heroes of 1960s Motorcycle Sport by Andy Westlake.
- An affectionate and warm insight to a truly great era of motorcycle sport
- Profiles of 17 famous riders of the 1960s
- Contains photographs by Gordon Francis, one of the UK’s leading sports photographers: most have never been published before
- Will appeal to both male and female readers
- 126 evocative, period photos
Click here for more info about the book.

Thursday, 4 December 2008

The RAC club managed to borrow Jack's famous Ford Galaxie and display it in the clubs rotunda on the day of his talk (25/11/08). They had to remove the revolving doors to the clubhouse to do it and the car barely had half an inch each side to spare as it came through. Click here for more pictures.

*Video of the talk coming very soon on Youtube.

Veloce Publishing is proud to bring you Gentleman Jack – The Official Biography of Jack Sears By Graham Gauld.
Jack Sears was one of the principal organisers of the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon. This is THE official biography of a fascinating entrepreneur, sportsman and gentleman. Packed with facts straight from the man himself and illustrated with over 150 unique photos this is a must have piece of motoring history.

Wednesday, 3 December 2008

Six of the UK's hottest young creatives have been chosen by Vauxhall to receive a commission of up to £20,000 each.
As part of its ongoing commitment to style and design, car company Vauxhall in conjunction with a Style Council made up of arts industry experts, has identified six of the brightest creative stars and given them a commission of up to £20,000 each, accompanied by a high profile PR campaign, to help them take their careers to the next level.
The six commissions will tie into the theme of The Great British Road Trip, a re-telling of the classic road trip story, with a very British twist. With the commissions totalling in the region of £120,000 this significant arts support programme in the UK, reflects Vauxhall's ongoing commitment to supporting style and design.
Click here for more info.

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

Off Road Giants! - Heroes of 1960s Motorcycle Sport- An affectionate and warm insight to a truly great era of motorcycle sport
- Profiles of 17 famous riders of the 1960s
- Contains photographs by Gordon Francis, one of the UK’s leading sports photographers: most have never been published before
- Will appeal to both male and female readers
- 126 evocative, period photos
Click here for more info about the book.

Monday, 1 December 2008

In the new Porsche Museum, the final preparations are being made for the opening on Saturday, 31 January 2009. Now that the scaffolding has been removed, it is possible to see to the full extent the bold architecture of the building, opposite the head office premises of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG in Zuffenhausen; the famous suburb of Stuttgart, in Germany, that has since 1950 been the home of Porsche. The 5,600 square metres of exhibition space are supported on just three so-called cores of reinforced concrete – hence the building appears to hover in free-space. Inside, the majority of approximately 80 exhibits are already in place.

During construction of the new Porsche Museum, the vehicles have been stored in an off-premises warehouse in Zwingenberg am Neckar until required. The first exhibits that will go on display in the museum include, among others, a 356 Cabriolet, an original ‘11’ model and the first prototype of the 924.

Thursday, 27 November 2008

The latest Lotus Design limited edition calendar is now available and hints at a design language of the future. The calendar has 15 pages of development sketches, scale model photographs and digital visualisations from the Design teams’ most recent projects and has exclusive images and renderings of the brand new Lotus Evora. The high quality, large format calendar (42cm x 42cm) is designed so that the individual pages can be removed and framed and a limited print run ensures that this 2009 calendar is a rare and collectable item.

Tuesday, 25 November 2008

Very pleased to announce the much anticipated Veloce book the Lamborghini Miura Bible by Joe Sackey is now in print.
The ONLY book on the Lamborghini Miura to be published in the past twenty six years – and enthusiasts agree it is long overdue. Written by a world-renowned authority on the subject, featuring, among other things, a never-before-published factory chassis production register, technical illustrations, studio-supplied images and exclusive interviews with the designers of the car: this is essential reading for any Lamborghini fan.

and what better way to celebrate the release of this book than to enjoy the opening sequence from the cult movie The Italian Job from 1969 with Matt Munro singing "On Days Like These" as a Lamborghini Miura glides through the Alps. Unfortunately, it can't be said that 'No Miuras were harmed during the making of the film' and the squeamish may want to look away at the end of this clip!
The Miura used in the Italian Job may have been ill-fated but the new Veloce book provides a must have companion at a much more affordable price than the real thing!

Dan Peirce - Author of the Veloce book The Fine Art of the Motorcycle Engine – The Story of the Up-N-Smoke Engine Project has his own blog. Be sure to check it out at www.cycleworldnetwork.com

By tradition, the motorcycle is a naked beast, differing from other vehicles by the fact that its mechanical structure is also part of its aesthetic appearance. In The Fine Art of the Motorcycle Engine, photographer Daniel Peirce examines the graphic nature of historic engines with stunning and dramatic photography. Since the beginning of the motorbike, engine designers knew they had to design power plants that performed well and looked good. Peirce presents 64 stunning pictures from his popular UP-N-SMOKE Engine Project. In addition to his engine photography, the book also includes the story of the project and the years it took to take it from an inspired idea to a tangible reality.click here for more info about the book, or why not download a screensaver with 15 images taken from the book.

Wednesday, 19 November 2008

Through 60 years of automotive evolution so much has changed. Yet every Porsche Boxster is built on these first principles. Sports performance, lightweight construction, agility and pure driving pleasure. The technology Porsche use may have developed, but the company’s ability to produce a two-seat, mid-engined sports car unlike any other on the road remains.

This week, Porsche is presenting the second generation of the mid-engined Boxster roadster at the Los Angeles Motor Show (November 21 – 30). The highlight of the new generation is the new flat-six ‘boxer’ engines, developed with new technical features from the ground up, providing not only more power, but also significantly greater fuel efficiency.

Porsche Boxster by Brian Long. The full story of Porsche's affordable roadster from prototype stage to the present day. Complete with factory-sourced photographs and details of all home and export market models. click here for more info.

The recent ‘Polo Confidence’ advertising campaign for the Volkswagen Polo – also known as ‘Singing Dog’ – has been honoured at this year’s Autocar Awards, being named Car Ad of the Year 2008. This award is voted for by the readers of Autocar on-line.

The ‘Polo Confidence’ advert features a Jack Russell dog which is shown to be nervous and timid in everyday situations, yet, while in the Polo, ‘sings’ happily and confidently along to the soundtrack of ‘I’m a man’ by the Spencer Davis Group. The advertisement has so far registered over one million hits on the internet video site YouTube, while 36 fan groups were set up on social networking site FaceBook. The soundtrack, which was not re-released, also peaked at number six on the UK Rock Top 100 on iTunes.
The controversial video is memorable and funny thanks to its star of the show 'the singing dog'. Veloce also has its own dog, Immie, who may not be a celebrity herself, but with that neckerchief on I'm sure you'll agree she looks the part!

A smart owner has masterminded his own fundraising mission to Italy making over £5,500 for charity.Nathan Kift, who was accompanied by his step-brother Craig Jackson, drove his 2003 smart fortwo pulse coupé over 2,100 miles to Venice and back in aid of Gloucester Royal Hospital’s Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU). The duo were inspired to take on the seven-day driving marathon after Nathan’s son spent time in the care of the SCBU.The smart fortwo was said to have performed superbly, especially when it came to fuel economy and crossing the Alps.

Find out more about smart cars in the Veloce book the little book of smart by Paul Jackson.A fascinating tale, told succinctly and in an entertaining style, and complemented by full colour photography throughout. Click here for more info.

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

A 5 steering-wheel rating in the November issue of Oldtimer Markt which says that all Montreal drivers should erect an equestrian statue to Bruce in front of their garages in honour of this excellent book, and at least baptise their sons with the middle name "Bruce"!

Monday, 17 November 2008

Last week Porsche officially opened its Driving Experience Centre adjacent to the famous Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in Northamptonshire. The world-class centre allows every customer of a new Porsche in the UK and Ireland to receive expert tuition in their driving skills as well as the performance capabilities of their car as part of their purchase experience.
The Porsche Driving Experience Centre aims to build on these principles of driving safety and driving enjoyment by providing a formal, yet fun, environment for both Porsche owners and enthusiasts to have the opportunity to understand the engine performance and chassis dynamics attributes which differentiate a Porsche from its rivals.
The centre offers a variety of track configurations and surface conditions on which the potential of all Porsche road cars can be studied, together with, uniquely, the human performance level of drivers themselves. The Porsche Driving Experience Centre houses reception and display areas, a restaurant, cinema and the innovative Human Performance department. This leading edge sports laboratory is run by proven specialists and is accessible to both Porsche customers and racing drivers. Ordinarily, this type of facility would only be accessible to elite athletes. One-to-one instruction spans fitness assessments and guidance in techniques aimed at improving stamina, co-ordination and reaction times for drivers of all levels.
The building features distinctive Porsche architectural cues on the outside but, like the Porsche road cars themselves, employs the latest technology to significantly lower its energy demands, and hence its environmental impact. Visitors can see the entire Porsche facility from a roof top platform offering panoramic views.

New Porsche books from Veloce!

Porsche Racing Cars – 1953 to 1975 by Brian Long.
Today, one cannot escape the fact that the words 'Porsche' and 'racing' go hand in hand. This book follows Porsche's year-by-year progress in top flight racing, and looks in detail at the pure competition cars that brought the German marque such immense success on the tracks and worldwide acclaim. This particular volume starts with story of the giant killing 550 Spyders of 1953 vintage, and takes the reader through a series of racing models, including the glorious 917, up to 1975 via contemporary photography and words from an acknowledged Porsche authority. A second volume covers the years 1976 onwards. The book includes detailed year by year coverage of Porsche's top class racing exploits in words and 300 excellent photos.

Porsche 964, 993 & 996 Data Plate Code Breaker by Adrian Streather.
This book provides a comprehensive list of all the build specification codes used by Porsche AG for the Porsche 911 series, from model years 1989 to 2005. VIN, model type, country, exterior paint colour, interior colour combinations, material codes, and standard, special and Porsche Exclusiv options for the 964, 993 and 996 series are provided in detail. Option codes for other Porsche models built between 1978 and 2005 are also included, if known to the author.

Congratulations to Hetty with new baby boy Benedict - pictured here at 11 days old. Hetty is one of Veloce's hardworking accountants - we wish her well on her maternity leave and look forward to her return.

Thursday, 13 November 2008

The NISSAN GT-R supercar has won the Most Advanced Technology Award, one of the highly coveted awards of Car of the Year Japan 2008-2009. The final selection was made from November 10-11 at Oiso, Kanagawa prefecture. The jury described the NISSAN GT-R “as a supercar that delivers powerful performance and clean emission, featuring an advanced new body structure combining carbon, aluminium and steel, in addition to its impressive dual-clutch transmission and the world’s first independent transaxle 4WD”.

NISSAN GT-R has been a global success since its launch on December 6, 2007 in Japan and July 7, 2008 in North America. The NISSAN GT-R will be arriving in Europe next spring.

Also, next year will see the release of the exciting forthcoming book from Veloce Nissan GT-R Supercar: Born to race by Dennis Gorodji.This book contains rare pictures, schemas and graphs detailing the many unique qualities of the Nissan GT-R, a car that revolutionised modern sports car dynamics. Analysis of the motorsport history of the GT-R provides an original view of development of the models, and comparison of them with other sports and racing cars. It features an original and critical analysis of the new GT-R R35, and the R35 Spec V, which will be launched in the beginning of 2009, is also represented in the book. With over 400 colour photographs, this is essential reading for sports car fans.click here to find out more about this forthcoming book

Wednesday, 12 November 2008

If you want to know what it's like to negotiate with Enzo Ferrari, chase Ron Dennis with a hammer, score points when everyone knows you shouldn't, and bring a Grand Prix promoter to his knees, read this book! In an increasingly grey, corporate paddock, where people were scared of their own shadows, Minardi harked back to a better time. Minardi, Stoddart, Ecclestone, Walker, Martini, Nannini, Campos, Fittipaldi, Mansell, Badoer, Fisichella, Gene, Alonso, Webber, Yoong, Wilson, Bruni and Albers are among the contributors, and that's before we get to fascinating insights from engineers and mechanics. This is the one and only inside account, with exclusive, comprehensive interviews with bosses, drivers and engineers. 145 unique photos complete this revelationary tale.
click here for more info about the book

Tuesday, 11 November 2008

Drivers of grey cars are more likely to need roadside assistance than any other coloured vehicle, according to research by digital motoring magazine, imotormag.co.uk

With more blue cars on Britain’s roads than any other colour - over 7 million registered - they are nearly 15% less likely to call out a breakdown vehicle than their grey-hued counterparts. The research showed that green was the second most likely coloured vehicle to call for roadside assistance and Red was the least most likely.

Mat Watson, editor of imotormag.co.uk, said: “The results are genuinely surprising. One theory is that many hire and company car fleets choose grey vehicles as the colour looks newer for longer, with dents and scratches less noticeable. These vehicles are often exposed to very high mileage, so perhaps their chance of needing assistance is greater. Then again, grey cars could just be cursed!”

Monday, 10 November 2008

Check lacarrera2007.blogspot.com for an ongoing look at the people, places and machines of the worlds most demanding open road race. The blog also features some fantastic video documentary which is well worth a look.

Thursday, 6 November 2008

A chance to be part of automotive history, people can join ‘Project Splitwheel' at www.splitwheel.com. From here, members from all over the globe are able to submit ideas and concepts for every single aspect of the new Caterham and discuss and debate them with other users, before ultimately voting on what makes it to the final vehicle.

The Splitwheel.com website will use a combination of articles, blogs, forum discussion, a Wikipedia-style user-edited knowledge base and a comprehensive voting system to turn user input into a workable vehicle design. Along with acting as a liaison with Caterham's engineering team, Project Splitwheel will also provide guidance and input from automotive industry experts as required.

Starting from a blank sheet of paper and with very few restrictions in place, the result should be an exciting and truly unique performance vehicle.

On the subject of designing cars, there is an exciting book on the way from Veloce. Next year will see the release of How to illustrate and design Concept Cars by Adrian Dewey. The automobile seems to be as popular now as it ever was. Posters of cars still adorn many a child’s bedroom wall, and school exercise books are full of doodles of cars. This book takes those notebook sketches and teaches you how to develop them into the car designs you see in magazines.

Using simple to follow step-by-step drawings it guides you from pencil sketch to marker rendering, from doodle to highly visual computer generated artwork.

Adrian Dewey has worked on designs as diverse as small sports cars to double decker buses, modified motors to concept Formula 1 cars, using various techniques and styles. In this book, he uses his knowledge of the different styles to guide the reader in creating great artwork and designs of their own. The book shows in detail how to use different materials and how to get the most out of each one, whether it be a great pencil sketch or a photo realistic vector illustration. Why not join the new group on Facebook to discuss car design, concepts and techniques!

click here for more info about the book. click here to visit the facebook group. click here to visit Adrian's auto-concept site.

Wednesday, 5 November 2008

Researchers at Kyoto University have made this car from bamboo because of its light weight and toughness. Named BamGoo, the electric car only weighs 60Kg, which is lighter than most drivers and the battery will run for 30 miles.

Monday, 3 November 2008

Fantastic news that a British driver has won the Formula 1 World Championship. Its been a long wait since Damon Hill last took the title in 1996!
Click here to head over to the sign up page and recieve Novembers edition of the Veloce Publishing On the Grid newsletter. Get the chequered flag by being the first to find out about new Veloce books, news, offers and competitions. Last month we offered a huge discount on Veloce books exclusively to subscribers to the newsletter. Sign up now to find out what we are offering to our readers this month!